Rabe plays Sister Mary Eunice, who's as simple and naïve as her character's name sounds. "There's a lack of sophistication and she has a lot of good intentions: she wants everything to be OK and people to like her," Rabe says. "It's a hard place for that to happen." Sister Mary Eunice goes to great lengths to win over Sister Jude, but that's challenging considering good doesn't always go over well with someone who's as demanding and controlling.
Fiennes plays Monsignor Timothy Howard, the almost stereotypical cliché of the happily unaware priest — at least on the surface. He has a vision for Briarcliff that may not be in line with his colleagues, including Sister Jude and Dr. Arden. "He feels that his work should be continued within by bringing light to where there is suffering," Fiennes says. "The institution itself should be a place where those who are thrown away to the gutter — the rejects of society — have a place to be relocated spiritually, mentally and physically. From his point of view, it's a great place but curiously people aren't quite who they purport to be."
Cromwell plays Dr. Arthur Arden, the not-so-good doctor at Briarcliff. "Think of him as a pig farmer on a bad day. He's like a mad scientist, mad — nuts! — in every way," he tells THR. "I think he thinks there's a method to the madness; I think he's delusional." Cromwell not only is the top doc at Briarcliff, but he also has one of the best gigs on the rebooted series: putting Lange's Sister Jude in her place.
Sevigny plays Shelley, a sex-crazed inmate at Briarcliff who enjoys Sister Jude's punishment a little too much.
Levine plays Leo, one half of a present-day couple whose honeymoon includes a trip to the abandoned Briarcliff.
Quinto counterbalances Cromwell's Dr. Arden as Dr. Oliver Thredson, a psychiatrist with logic, reason and — most importantly — compassion on his side who's more serious and grounded than Chad. "He comes at things from a very clinical perspective; he's the most contemporary thinker but he's still a psychiatrist in 1964," Quinto says. "He gets assigned the job of evaluating one of the patients in the asylum and then gets exposed to some of the environments that make him concerned about the well-being of some of the other patients," Quinto adds, setting the stage for a smack down with Sister Jude. "He has a sense of morality and compassion and Sister Jude doesn't, so hopefully that would win."
Paulson here plays aspiring reporter Lana Winters, who first heads to Briarcliff for a story but winds up being admitted against her will. "My character is one with great integrity where being gay doesn't define her but she doesn't want it to be ignored. She's a reporter and she wants to be taken seriously and it's interesting to see that in that time period," Paulson says.
The French actress plays Grace, an inmate at Briarcliff who is resigned to living her life locked up.
Duvall plays Wendy, the secret girlfriend to Paulson's aspiring reporter/inmate.
In Asylum, Peters switches gears from a murdering rapist to the recently committed Kit Walker, a new inmate at Briarcliff Manor. "Kit's a good guy. He's a hero this time and the bad things are happening to him," Peters says.
Here, Emmy winner Lange plays Sister Jude, a nun who rules Briarcliff by any means necessary. "She's haunted and driven by the demons that are nipping at her heels the entire time," Lange previews. While she respects Monsignor Timothy Howard (Joseph Fiennes), she clashes with just about everyone else in the asylum — especially unwanted guests.